


and she never wanted to leave

by tabbytabbytabby



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Angst, Dancing, Everyone is Dead, Gen, Ghosts, Hale Family Feels, Hallucinations, Hurt No Comfort, Minor Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Past Character Death, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:40:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26663815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabbytabbytabby/pseuds/tabbytabbytabby
Summary: Years ago, a tragedy struck the Hale family. Ever since then Laura has been struggling, unable to come to terms with the reality of what happened. She's lost in her memories, living with her ghosts, even as she herself starts to fade.
Relationships: Derek Hale & Laura Hale
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11
Collections: Death or Worse, Laura Hale Appreciation Week 2020





	and she never wanted to leave

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 7 of Laura Hale Appreciation Week. 
> 
> Title and inspiration comes from the song [Jenny of Oldstones](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-F7K6UZEVg). If you want added feels, I'd recommend listening to it.

The cold creeps in, the wind blowing through the cold empty halls. Laura hardly notices anymore. She’s numb to most things these days. Why should the cold be any different? Still, she pulls her cloak tighter around her as she walks down the hall towards the throne room. Her footsteps echo across the stone floors as she walks. It’s only noise aside from the wind. 

There’s nothing to make noise anymore. No people. The wildlife are mostly in hiding for the winter. Laura can’t blame them. Sometimes she wishes she could hide away too. Sleep this all off and awake anew. Maybe then things will make more sense. She’ll have a better grasp of things. 

For now, she pushes the door open and steps inside. It’s empty here like it is everywhere else, and yet, if she closes her eyes she can picture how it used to be. How this room used to be alive as the people that inhabited it. And now it's dead. Fitting, she supposes.

She closes her eyes tighter and smiles. There they are. The ones she’s been looking for. Her ghosts. Her father laughs as he spins around the floor with her mother. Her uncle Peter over by the wall, talking to some of the ladies, no doubt on his fourth cup of wine. Cora running through the room, being chased by one of their knights, Sir Christopher. Lady Lydia spinning around in her gorgeous dresses, not paying the least bit of attention to her admirers vying for her attention.

And…

“May I have this dance?”

Derek. Derek’s here, smiling down at her fondly. “You just don’t want to dance with any of the ladies,” Laura teases, putting her hand in his and allowing him to pull her to her feet.

“Isn’t that what I’m doing?” Derek asks, as he leads her out to the middle of the floor. “You’re a lady.”

Laura rolls her eyes, “I’m your sister, Derek. That hardly counts. And we both know why you’ve been avoiding all the ladies, and it’s because you have your eye on someone.”

“Shh,” Derek hisses. He nervously looks over his shoulder and Laura chuckles. “Relax, Stiles is off with Scott, no doubt stealing food from the kitchens.”

“You do know they take it to the lower town to feed the hungry,” Derek says.

“Of course I do,” Laura says. “As do our parents. Why do you think they always make sure there’s plenty? Now stop avoiding my question.”

“You never asked one.”

“Derek…”

Derek twirls her around and sighs. “I am interested in someone, yes. But it’s hardly proper.”

“Oh to hell with proper,” Laura says. “You love him. That’s what matters.”

“But our parents…”

“Just want you to be happy, Derek,” she says. “As do I. And I can see how happy Stiles makes you.”

“What if he doesn’t return my feelings?” Derek asks her.

“He does,” Laura assures him. “I promise you. You should go find him. It is going to be awfully cold tonight.”

Derek’s eyes widen, “Laura!”

“Oh don’t be so offended. It’s the truth.”

“We’re dancing,” Derek says. “I’ll find him later.”

Laura laughs when he spins her around to the almost sorrowful music. Laura had always loved the song when she was younger. She’d walk the halls singing it, wondering how Jenny must have felt to be so alone in a castle. 

They dance and dance, spinning around and around, until Laura stumbles. She expects arms to hold her steady and keep her standing, but they don’t. Instead she tumbles to the cold stone floor. She opens her eyes and looks around. She’s alone. No one’s here. They haven’t been for a while. 

She wraps her arms around herself and shivers, the cold starting to settle into her bones. She should light a fire. She knows she would. Yet she can’t bring herself to move. She stands frozen, as she had that night. 

She’d snuck out of the castle to spy on Derek and Stiles. She’d left them alone and wandered the woods for a while, enjoying the night. Her parents had always said it wasn’t safe to wander alone, but Laura had always been stubborn. 

The hunters came while she was away, charging through the gates and reigning down on the castle like an unexpected storm. Laura had returned to find the castle in flames. She’d tried to enter but found herself held back by Sir Christopher. She’d screamed and fought but he wouldn’t let her go. 

When the flames died down, Laura had entered the castle, taking in the damage. When she reached the throne room it was to find a mess of bodies strewn across the floor. All of them with their throats slit. Her parents. Her uncle. Her sister. And there, lying next to Stiles was Derek, their hands linked.

The image had haunted her for so long. But she hadn’t been able to leave. She had nowhere else to go. So she’d had Sir Christopher help her gather her family and give them a proper funeral. As she watched the flames lick at their pyres, she felt herself die with them. She was still standing, but she hardly felt alive anymore. 

Her days are all the same. Waking. Walking the halls. Gathering the food she can. Then walking some more. Sir Christopher had helped her rebuild what they could of the castle, but eventually he left, promising to avenge her family. Whether he achieved his mission, she’s unsure. She hasn’t seen him since.

She’s alone here, stuck within these walls. Not that she ever wants to leave this place. It’s her home. Her last remaining link to her family. She could never leave them. So she stays. Time passes and her sanity seems to go with it. 

She finds herself talking with her ghosts. Derek most of all. They laugh and trade stories. Sometimes she thinks he looks at her with pity, though she’s not sure why. She has everything she needs right here. She doesn’t need pity. 

She’s happy here with her family. Where she belongs. 

It’s all she can think about as she lays on the cold stone floor and closes her eyes. She goes back to that moment. To the time when these halls were alive. And she dances all through the days and into the night. She ignores the aches in her body and cold seeping into her bones and seeming to freeze her. Wouldn’t that just be perfect? To freeze here they were left to burn. A fitting end to the last of Hale’s.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos/comments make my day 💜  
> You can find me [here on tumblr](http://tabbytabbytabby.tumblr.com/)


End file.
